I. American history has highlights in railway transportation history:
events that have far- reaching impact, many so significant that
the story is not complete even to this era. The "Post Road
Act" passed by Congress in 1838, codified all railroads to
be part of a federal secured network, and President Lincoln brought
forward the "Pacific Railroad Bill" in the critical hours
of the Civil War, beginning America's healing even before the fighting
stopped.

The
Europeans built their railways too. A most significant railway extension
from Turkey, thru Damascus, Syria and on to Saudi Arabia was built
by Sultan Abdul Hamid early in the 20th Century. Called the Hejaz,
or "Pilgrim Railway", this was a commercial venture with
religious overtones, as it ran south to the Holy City of Medina.
Although much was destroyed over the last 100 years of war and sabotage,
parts are being restored, and the Saudis are modernizing the lines
near Mecca and Medina.

The
"Baghdad Railway" (running to the east through Iraq, generally
parallel to the mentioned Hejaz/Pilgrim line) is part of this discussion,
particular to the US military predicament in Iraq. For background,
see E. M. Earle, Turkey, the Great Powers, and the Baghdad Railway
(1923); J. B. Wolf, The Diplomatic History of the Baghdad Railroad
(1936). This is the present north-south railway running thru Baghdad,
south to the Port of Basra. It is this Iraqi rail corridor that
is at the heart of this Strategic Policy Proposal. The Baghdad Railway,
we believe, is where the US presence in Iraq should primarily focus
withdrawal strategy. This is a tangible feature of civil engineering
that will change a US mistake into a Middle East Legacy. Please
see the maps attached to familiarize with the two railway lines
under discussion.

While
we cannot exactly mark rail alignment changes, additions, and expansions,
we can state broad concepts. We suggest using both the "Pilgrim
and the Baghdad Railways, in a comprehensive regional solution set,
to solve the Palestinian displaced persons impasse, as well as utilizing
this civil engineering effort to enable an honorable conclusion
for the USA military presence.

Moreover,
to show national good faith on the world stage, it is proposed to
couple the Middle East railway solution with a similar rail transportation
engineering effort in the USA, the construction of a renewable based
trans-Sierra crossing, linking the capital cities of California
& Nevada, Sacramento & Carson City, respectively. This will
signal America's acknowledgement of 911DAY's warning regarding over
reliance and national

vulnerability
with respect to imported oil in the transportation sector. Financial
markets will reflect the morale-building aspect of America finally
taking significant steps to conserve fuel, even while adding strategic
Sierra transport infrastructure linked to en-route American River
hydropower.

It
is serendipitous, to say the least, that the Honorable Lady Leader
of Congress and the Gentleman Senate Majority Leader are from the
two American states at the heart of this new American fuel conservation
initiative. This will be advantageous in the extreme as we endeavor
to gain support for a like solution from world leaders in the Middle
East cauldron!

II.
Now, let us look at Iraq, Palestine, and the Middle East theatre.

Early
after 911DAY, contact was made with the US State Department, Department
of Defense, as well as several diplomatic contacts and offices regarding
a "Corridor Strategy" in the Iraq theater, presupposing
a conflict involving US forces. Based on Moshe Dayan's precept of
"The minimum required effort to achieve the minimum acceptable
result", the proposed action concept would have avoided the
present sort of "traffic cop/Highway Patrol" model which
has presently bogged down the US effort in Iraq to the point of
causing political upheaval in the US, all but bringing down the
President.

The
railway mode of transport was described in a circa 1955 US Army
Transportation manual, "Second Dimension Surface Transport
Logistics Platform", alluding to the stand-alone nature of
the railway in a theater of operations/disaster-recovery scenario
(NOT used in Katrina)- or, occupations force maintenance/materiel
kept separate from local interference, etc. See www.peakoil.net
article 374, applicable to a "Middle East Roadmap" by
separation, for the most part, of civilian and military affairs,
with clear-cut security zones reserved for military re-supply and
traffic. In Iraq, the US ultimately shrinks to corridor protection
and control (the north-south railway), linking a few bases. Further
shrinkage might ultimately devolve to Kurdish territory: this to
mollify Turkey, as well as maintain an effective but sharply reduced
US presence.

Even
as the railway strategy can be derided as too susceptible to sabotage,
the fact is that no unauthorized persons would have reason to get
near the operating right-of-way (subject to being fired upon), and
that modern surveillance by drones, cameras and satellite can make
this feasible. Everyone uses the paved roads; only the railway equipment
uses the railway. Track and time authorization requirements make
it very difficult for unauthorized incursions by fake maintenance
personnel bent on damaging the works. This type of presence for
the US permits a stand-off role, which can allow day-to-day on-call
status, without daily interface with roadside bombings, snipers,
etc.

Snipers
are always a threat, but it is possible to protect work crews out
on the line with various means of shielding, and again, the drone
is above.

Israel
is captive to the Palestinian presence, unless means are found to
induce voluntary evacuation of populations to new locations of work
and residence. US relinquishment of the railway corridor in Iraq
could coincide with resettlement along this rail line of willing
Palestinian family units, in a framework of allocation mindful of
Shia/Sunni preferences, etc. This would have to be in context with
a comprehensive quid-pro-quo involving Iran, Syria, Jordan, and
the Saudis, plus other interested parties like Russia, the EU, India,
etc. We save China for last, partly because they are now the worlds
most prolific railroad builders, and will be just as happy dealing
in railway building as well as military hardware; moreover, China
will soon be the worlds largest user of Muslim oil.

This
is not a perfect solution, but it allows something to be on the
table, with full disclosure of the present course of events' obvious
results: general war in the region and spreading. In fact. the Muslim
demographics point to a constant series of wars/terrorist attacks
around the world as far as the eye and imagination can scope. In
the event of Iranian reluctance to participate, one can foresee
the Iraq railway corridor ultimately defining the eastern frontier
of the biblical promise, although one hastens to deny they ever
said any such thing... In truth, however, the Muslim bent to destroy
the Jewish State offers them (Islam) no safe haven in the world
either! At some point, self-interest kicks in.

This
railway corridor approach could be administered by a United Nations
office of Universal Postal Union, following the 1838
Act of US Congress designating all railroads Post Roads,
guarantors of Societal and Commercial Cohesion in the fledgling
Union of States. This program can be further implemented worldwide,
with the inclusion of renewable power sources to respective countries'
rail networks, vastly expanded in capacity and reach, as part of
the Peaking Oil Plan B.

III.
To recap, the US problem is twofold: we must resolve our energy
consumption for transport, badly unbalanced since we gave too much
emphasis to the highway mode, at the expense of railways. Bringing
railway capacity and reach back to proper proportion is requisite,
and projects like a US50 Corridor railway project, with connectivity
to places like the Port of Stockton, Monterey, Santa Rosa and North
Bay points- with trans-Sierra inclusion of Carson City and Reno
are just a beginning. Extrapolate concept locale by locale, across
US-

And,
secondly, the Middle East: a solution set would include two rail
corridors, the "Pilgrim" & the "Baghdad Railway"
lines as basis for military pullback and Palestinian "safety
valve" resettlement sites. The attached information will assist
Senate and House of Representative staffers who can rework and research
these several categories of tasks, in the Middle East and Stateside.
Laterals or new trunk to suit military port logistics will obviously
be part.of the formula. Maybe Syria gets a nice modernization ot
Latakia in return for letting US materiel transit?

The
writers are willing to help with brainstorming around and over pitfalls
and bumps. The proposals are here presented as a compendium, with
the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Nonetheless,
individual aspects and features are doable stand-alone tasks. The
reader is invited to see these features as part of a local benefit
that translates into a regional or national benefit. For a regional
example, construction of US50 corridor rail service would free track
and time on the 80 (Capitol Corridor Passenger) line, even though
the immediate attention is somewhat removed geographically. This,
in turn, ultimately is a world demonstration that we, the USA, are
willing to return to our railway roots, as an element of addressing
global warming. This would most certainly help our case in the Middle
East.

The
global implications in the Middle East are enormous: bringing renewable
energy to the Oil Patch would ameliorate the deadly ambiance of
feuding; it simply must take place with all due haste, as peaking
oil takes hold field-by-field, even in the Muslim lands. Maryland
Representative Roscoe Bartlett can help staffers on this aspect
of the research. Matthew Simmons (713-236-9999), also.

Note
attachment from the Canadian Parliament. Our experience fifteen
years ago was unanimous support for these proposals, using civil
engineering as basis for bringing people together in a common cause.
It is most important to give the people a vision! This goes for
Americans here in the USA, as well. It is time for the feds to get
going with energy and related challenges, with some WPA style investment.

Thank
you for your careful analysis and timely sharing of these details.

We
will be honored to work with Senator Bidens' Foreign Relations staff
to help craft a bi-partisan resolution that promulgates the concepts
and goals herein stated. We will meet at Senator Reid's Reno/Carson
City office if you wish. Thank you.

Tahoe
Valley Lines
P.O. Box 9289
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158-2289

Att. Maps, & correspondence back to 1991 are in possession of
Senator Harry Reid's office, and House Speaker Pelosi, as well.